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-FILE--Malcolm X, the Black Muslim leader, is shown in New York in this March 5, 1964 file photo. Farrakhan said he regrets his writings may have led others to murder Malcolm X in a ``60 Minutes'' interview to be broadcast Sunday, May 14, 2000. Attallah Shabazz later issued a statement thanking Farrakhan for acknowledging his role and said: "I wish him peace.'' Shabazz, then 6, saw her father gunned down in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem on Feb. 21, 1965. (AP Photo/Eddie Adams, File)(Photo: Eddie Adams, Copyright, The Journal News 1999;Yes)Buy Photo

Dozens of Rockland residents came out to celebrate the life of Malcolm X at a birthday party in his honor on Friday at the Nyack Center. If he were alive, he would have turned 91 on Thursday.

But the primary focus of this event is youth.

The celebration “is uniquely suitable for the times black youth and people find themselves in right now,” said Rev. Weldon McWilliams, who is organizing the event along with the Nyack Center Teen Council and Black Lives Matter – Rockland & Orange Alliance.

"Black Lives Matter is a very young movement," said Vanessa Green one of the chapter's co-founders and party organizer. "I tell young people, 'This is not your grandmother's civil rights movement'."

Indeed. East Ramapo High School student Melissa Denizard is a founding member of the chapter and organizes events such as "Books & Breakfast," which brings free food and reading material to community groups around the region. Nyack High School's Shaemalie Franck, another member of both the local Black Lives Matter chapter and the Nyack Center Teen Council, greeted attendees and otherwise helped host the event.

"We’re very happy to bring those voices on board," Green said.

McWilliams, a history professor at SUNY’s Dutchess Community College said, "In a time when many black people, and more specifically black youth, feel that they have been systematically excluded from the possibilities of obtaining the American Dream and unfairly (and maybe even unlawfully) targeted by law enforcement, this celebration of Malcolm X is also a celebration that validates those feelings and will hopefully provide the creative inspiration needed to move toward viable solutions.”

Unarmed black women who died at the hands of police and other authorities in recent years were also recognized as part of the #SayHerName campaign.

The African American Policy Forum, along with the Black Youth Project 100 and other groups launched this national effort last year after the Black Lives Matter group. The group was created in response to the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012 to raise awareness about the injustices affecting black people had become especially focused on the lives of black men.

Contemporary and African dancers performed for attendees, and shared their own poems and thoughts about the late civil rights leader. The owner of food truck SoulFood Saturday donated chicken wings and other goodies to the potluck feast, in addition to BJ's Wholesale Club.

Organizer Nicole Hines said she identifies with Malcolm X’s comment that, “‘You can’t separate peace from freedom.’ That is so powerful and true.”

Travahnni Harris, 17, was among those at the event Friday night. Harris, who attends Nyack high school, said she wanted to attend to celebrate all that Malcolm X had accomplished.

Frances Pratt, president of the Nyack NAACP, said the event on Friday could show young people "what they can become."

"It's a wonderful way of mentoring our young people," Pratt said.

Margaret Capers, of Spring Valley, said the celebration was “uplifting," and "helps our community." The event, she added, also contributes to drawing in younger members to get involved in the community. “I think this should be happening more often," she said.

Cylinda Whitted, of South Nyack, said she felt it was important to bring her seven-year-old son Noble to the event on that night. While Nyack has many social events every month, Whitted said there could be more like Friday's event that bring together and celebrate African Americans and their history in the community.

“We need to start getting together,” Whitted said. “The only way we can really start healing our community is by first coming together, to bring back the way we used to be. These types of events do that.”